Characteristically the grip of hand guns have been made of wood or molded rigid plastic material. Sometimes ornamental materials such as mother of pearl have been used. Typically the exterior surface of such hand grips includes cross hatching or other friction improving surface treatment. The objective is to provide a hand fitting grip which is operative to insure a firm grip on the hand gun while in use.
It has recently been discovered that a slightly resilient grip made, for example of 80-85 shore neoprene provides sufficient rigidity for effective gripping. It's resiliencey also improves the comfort to the shooter and provides an improved grip. Many shooters attribute superior accuracy to the resilient type grip.
Unfortunately a resilient elastomer grip by its very nature offers difficulties in attachment to the hand gun frame. The traditional method of securing hand grips to the frame namely a machine screw which with appropriate washer passes through the grip and into a mating machine hole in the frame is not effective. A single such screw attempts to compress the elastomer in the region of the screw causing the edges of the hand grip to bow outward in an unsightly and unsatisfactory condition. This problem has been attacked by the molding of a reinforcing insert to the elastomer. Examples of such approaches appear in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,672,084, 3,815,270, 4,043,066, and 3,696,706.
The attempt in the molded insert arrangement is to provide a broader surface, for example, two thirds of the area of the hand grip with a reinforcement. This type of hand grip has gone significantly toward improvement in resilient elastomer hand grips. It is however only a partial solution.